• Charles Koch,  David Koch,  Oil Severance Tax,  San Francisco Chronicle

    Koch Derangement Syndrome Watch: San Francisco Chronicle Facilitates Hysteria For Oil Severance Tax Supporters

    Greenpeace is flying a blimp over Rancho Mirage, California to protest the Koch Brothers

    I mean, where do they get this stuff that David and Charles Koch are involved in an any type of ballot measure regarding a California oil severance tax? After all, this is a major California newspaper and where’s the beef?

    To Peter Mathews, the political timing seems perfect. A gallon of gas costs more than $4, the five largest oil companies have made $30 billion in profits this year, and California’s higher education system is losing at least $1.4 billion to help balance the state’s gargantuan budget deficit.

    The political science professor at Cypress College, a community college in Orange County, drove to UC Berkeley on Friday to begin gathering support for a ballot measure to tax oil companies on the petroleum they extract in California and send the money – about $2 billion a year – to public schools.

    But should his measure qualify for the November ballot, Mathews and liberal groups worry that a pair of deep-pocketed brothers could emerge to fight the initiative: Charles and David Koch (pronounced “coke”) of Kansas, who have used the billions they’ve made in the oil industry to try to reshape national politics in their conservative, free-market image.

    “They’d probably weigh in because (the tax) would represent another burden on business,” said Peter Foy, a Republican Ventura County supervisor and chair of the California chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which David Koch co-founded.

    Sorry, but neither Supervisor Foy nor does the San Francisco Chronicle know what Koch Industries or David or Charles Koch will do. They really don’t. Moreover, Supervisor Foy’s organization is NOT funded by Koch Industries. Supervisor Foy is NOT a spokesman for Koch Industries or either of the Koch brothers.

    Why?

    Well, the Kochs have NO oil refining operations in California and their companies are NOT involved in oil extraction (spelled oil drilling in California or anywhere else for that matter). They are involved with oil refining (after the oil comes out of the ground) and NOT in California. Can THIS be any more clear?

    The last time the oil severance tax was on the California ballot, I believe was in 2006, Proposition 87. It was an expensive, initiative ballot proposition which I voted against. How much do you think the Koch’s contributed to its defeat?

    NOTHING. What makes anyone think they would contribute to a campaign for a new oil severance tax measure? One, in which they have NO interest. Does this make any sense?

    The Chronicle points out that California is the ONLY oil producing state that does not have this oil severance tax in place already. California lags behind the other states, so why would the Koch’s involve themselves because of a fear that this oil tax may spread to other states?

    No, this whole exercise is an attempt by the LEFT to DEMONIZE the Koch Brothers so they can raise money from their Moonbat/Far Left donors. If I were them and the San Francisco Chronicle, I would be looking at Chevron who gave $30 Million and Aera Energy $27 Million to help defeat Proposition 87 in 2006. But, then again, those companies actually employ voters in this state and perhaps they are just too hard to make into a BOOGEY MAN.